Obama Would Veto Spending Bill De-Funding Planned Parenthood

President Barack Obama would veto the House-approved long-term spending bill for the federal government that contains the Pence Amendment, a measure that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

Because of that provision and other pro-life riders that stop abortion funding globally and in the District of Columbia, the Washington Times indicates “Obama has issued a veto threat on that bill, saying House Republicans’ cuts are unacceptable.”

“Senate Democrats said the non-spending provisions of the bill — such as restrictions on Planned Parenthood and on Obama administration rules and regulations — will also have to be struck,” the Times continues.

That is the current impasse over the federal spending legislation — where House Republicans have adopted a budget-cutting bill with pro-life provisions and where Senate Democrats have not put forward their own legislation whereby pro-life advocates could either negotiate for the pro-life provisions or try to pass amendments to the Senate bill.

Obama issued a statement this week calling for such negotiations: “I’m calling on Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress to begin meeting immediately with the vice president, my chief of staff and budget director so we can find common ground on a budget that makes sure we are living within our means.”

But pro-life Speaker John Boehner says no formal invitation has been extended and Senate Democrats have yet to write a spending bill.

“How do you start a conversation where one house has spoken, but the other house hasn’t?” he said. “Where is the starting point?”

While Congress stalls, activists on both sides of the abortion debate are furiously contacting Congress urging members of the Senate to support or oppose the Pence Amendment and the pro-life provisions. Planned Parenthood has mobilized its supporters to deliver more than 700,000 messages to senators while pro-life groups are conducted similar lobbying efforts and organizing a bus tour of the eastern United States to turn out grassroots support.

Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, shed light on the situation, talking about the key pro-life provision in the House-approved budget bill that would stop taxpayer funding of abortions in the District of Columbia.

“Until this administration came to town, it was illegal to take money out of our pockets and use it to directly finance the killing of D.C.’s unborn children. That all flew out the window in the 2009 omnibus, when the Democratic leadership insisted on giving District abortion doctors a direct pipeline to government dollars,” he explained.”Thanks to the last Congress, the capital of the free world is also the capital of free abortions. This is incredibly significant now, as House and Senate leaders wrestle over the new budget.”

“As part of the continuing resolution that House members passed last week, the District would go back to the way things were before President Obama, when there was a freeze on D.C. taxpayer-funded abortion. That’s all up in the air, now that both parties can’t seem to come to an agreement on budget cuts,” he said. “The Left’s version of a “clean bill” is still awash in abortion funding.”

Perkins hopes the efforts to stop abortion funding will stay prominent on the minds of Republicans during the budget negotiations.

“Nobody wants to see the government shut down, but there are some issues–like taxpayer-funded abortion–where the facts have prevailed and over 70% of Americans say no,” he said. “Every week that Congress puts off these budget talks is a week that you and I are directly funding abortion. Contact your leaders and tell them the cradle of liberty is no place for the government to take out a contract on the unborn.”